He is the strongman leader of Chechnya, a ruthless former rebel fighter with
strict Muslim habits and a passion for powerful cars and weapons. She is a
glamorous British actress, known for her revealing dresses and lightweight
comedy.

They seem unlikely candidates for friendship, but on Tuesday Ramzan Kadyrov and Elizabeth Hurley appeared to be bonding over a white kitten.

Mr Kadyrov posted pictures of the Bedazzled and Austin Powers star on his Instagram account after she arrived in Chechnya to begin filming a thriller with Gérard Depardieu, the French actor.

Less than a decade ago, Grozny, the capital, lay in ruins, pulverised by years of fighting. On Tuesday it was briefly transformed into a film set as Depardieu and Hurley swept into town to start work on Turquoise, about a French art thief and his Russian old flame.

Half of the film will be shot in the Chechen capital which has been rebuilt under Mr Kadyrov, the Muslim region’s provocative pro-Moscow leader.

Depardieu and Hurley received an effusive and at times sycophantic welcome as they announced the film at a press conference. Hilary Swank, the last foreign actress to visit Mr Kadyrov — for a gala dinner — ended up issuing a public apology and sacking her manager after a rights group criticised her for hobnobbing with him.

The two men struck up a friendship two years ago when the actor attended the Chechen leader’s birthday celebrations. That strengthened this year after the Gallic actor renounced his French citizenship in protest against a supertax for millionaires, and then accepted a Russian passport from President Vladimir Putin.

Depardieu posed for photographs with Chechen fans as he arrived in the hotel lobby. Greeted by The Daily Telegraph, he said sarcastically: “Ah, you are from Britain. Why are you here? Chechnya is so dangerous, no?” He later added: “They have not killed you yet?”

Mr Kadyrov, who has a collection of pets including a tiger, a wolf and a white cat called Chanel, controls military units accused in the past of kidnapping and torturing suspected Islamist insurgents and their families — charges he denies. The leader once praised men in Grozny who called Chechen women without headscarves “harlots” and fired a paintball gun at them.

At the press conference, accompanied by Hurley and the French-Russian co-production’s director, Philippe Martinez, Depardieu warmed to his theme. “Of course, I have seen people with weapons here, just like gendarmes in my own country, but they had friendship in their eyes, not fear and hatred,” he said.

Hurley said she had “taken a deep breath” when she first heard she would be playing scenes in Chechnya, but decided that it was “a good opportunity”. “We’ve made quite an invasion but we intend to make a great movie,” she said.

It was unclear if Mr Kadyrov had direct input, but the film’s producer, Arnaud Frilley, said he had read the script.

Hurley refused to comment on her meeting with the leader.

Tanya Lokshina, of Human Rights Watch, said: “I can’t dictate to Mr Depardieu and Miss Hurley whom they should meet with, but I hope they are not taking money from a person who is accused of involvement in egregious human rights violations.”